By Mike Hill
December 10 2002

Beziers were dispatched 24 -12 as Tigers made it four in a row on French soil. In a match that hardly set the Stade de la Mediterranée alight Tigers were a little smarter than their gallant but ineffective combatants. This contest had not grabbed the attention of the locals in the same way that the fixture against Perpignan had last season. Whilst that occasion had pulsated with energy in the tradition of France v England this one merely throbbed limply and only briefly burst into life.

Geordan Murphy was the catalyst for two classy tries with his pace and handling ultimately proving the difference between the sides. Leicester spluttered somewhat in the first half as they struggled to find any fluency to their attacks. The lineout worked well but too many unforced errors were letting Beziers off the hook.

Freddie's high tackle and follow up punch saw him taking a ten minute rest midway through the first half and put Tigers on the back foot. Beziers though failed to capitalise and in turn had two players binned for killing the ball. After 54 minutes the scores were level three penalty goals a piece and Beziers down to 14 men.

Tigers started to make some headway with Louis Deacon and Martin Corry leading the forward surges and the ball was getting to the wing for a change. Quick ball gave Geordan the chance to cut the line at pace and he fed Ollie Smith superbly who scored on to the left of the posts.

Leicester let Beziers back in by missing the conversion and then conceded a successful penalty to bring the scores close again to 12 - 14. A period of pressure in the French 22 yielded nothing but frustration when Deacon was hauled back inches short of the line. Tigers attacks were a little bit pedestrian and Beziers were starting to run the ball well on the counter attack.

The defence held up well however with Freddie stopping several moves quite literally in their tracks. The Samoan winger was in rib crunching form and the French resistance was crumbling. It just required a little bit of invention a moment of genius to finish them off.

Step up maestro Murphy who collected a pin point Healey cross kick tight to the right touch line kept his balance well and drew the cover before giving Leon a run in and Leicester the points. The conversion went over and Tigers pressed once more. This time the ball was slowed up and Kafer picked the right moment to drop a short range goal.

So a much improved performance and a very enjoyable weekend for the hundreds of fans that travelled to the south of France. The sun shone the beer and wine flowed and we even scored some tries. Man of the Match I'm awarding to Geordan for a near faultless performance although I'd rather see him on the wing and Tim at 15. Deacon and Corry were excellent in the loose and all the backs played their part.

Surely we can now go on and win this pool although Calvisano's triumph over Neath might make that trip a little harder than was possibly expected.